Session 2 Overview

Let’s see where we are today.

In our first session, we began by discussing spirituality in general. We said that spirituality is a universal sense of interconnection with the Transcendent—that is God and the Universe, humanity, and our own destiny. It’s an interconnection that provides meaning to life. We suffer and cause suffering when we become disconnected from the Transcendent. Our fears—our existential angst—and selfish self-interest are the symptoms of a spiritual disease.

In the second half of that session, we considered the signs of unmanageability in life, and how it was caused by self-reliance and the illusion of control. We determined that the only way out of the disastrous trap of unmanageability was to admit that we are powerless.

To give us some context going forward, we’ll need to recall where we are. Remember Step 1?

When we discussed the first step—that we admitted that we were powerless, and our lives had become unmanageable—we found that the unmanageability we experienced derived from our futile attempts to control the uncontrollable. We are not masters of our own destiny. When things did work out the way we’d planned, we took credit and used the experience to reinforce our delusions of ultimate control. But when things didn’t work out, and life got out of control, we often used denial, blame, or escape to avoid assuming responsibility for our failure. So long as we stayed on that merry-go-round, spiritual growth remained unattainable. When it finally dawned on us that our way wasn’t working—if we were wise—we took the first step and admitted that we were powerless to control our own lives. Only then could we begin to search for an alternative. If we’ve come to the point of giving up control, who or what do we give it up to?

In today’s session, we’ll start by looking for ways that we can find the Power that we need outside of ourselves, especially in the Transcendent. Then, we’ll examine the differences between belief in the Transcendent (faith) and trust in the Transcendent (hope).